Honest use from your jackplate?

Are you finding yourself in dirt shallow water enough to justify having a 1k jackplate? I would rather save myself a grand and "put up with" a half second longer hole shot and lose a couple miles an hour without one. Unless, of course you are in super shallow water all of the time.

Nope. My manual JP works great for the lakes I fish.

Yes. But it isn't just for getting up in dirt shallow water. I adjust my Atlas when navigating in big waves, idling through stumps and vegetation and for adjusting the performance of my Yamaha/Skeeter on the fly.

Tilt and trim covers the shallow water... jack plate is for performance in my opinion.

when you are idling thru shallow water hyd plates are nice you can raise the motor up with out tilting it up pushing the rear of the boat down its like other accessories to a boat is it worth it to you.

I will never own a bass boat without a judraulic plate. They are worth their weight in gold. Adjustments on the fly are amazing.

Can you elaborate on your experience with them?

I use mine all the time.....every trip. Much like Clark mentioned.

This is the first hydraulic plate I've owned.
Once I got some help on where I should have it set for initial running I've really come to like it. Esp when idling into stumpy areas or shallow water.
Wpuld I pay extra for one if it wasn't on it - no. Do I use it a lot -yes

Very limited real world use, in my opinion. Kind of like the 47 buttons on my TV remote I haven't touched since the first weekend I owned it. Just something to tinker with to inch out a few more MPH, if that is important to you. It does give a perfect place to mount your transducer though. I personally would not buy another one - instead I would use either a manual or an offset to give ample clearance for side view.

Use mine every trip...not as something to "tinker with", but for several reasons.

I lower and raise mine every time I get on pad to prevent blowout. Crank it up for skinny water, etc.

Atlas last year, Bob's this year (much faster, but needs grease more often). Both are great.

It's like any other technology. If you are willing to learn how to fully utilize it's capabilities, it is worth the money. If you don't care to learn and take advantage of it's capabilities, then don't waste your money. There is much more to the technology than hole shots and speed. Same thing can be said about Power Poles/Talons. I use both my jackplate and poles all the time, everytime out. Hint: Jackplates can be beneficial in deep open water with the motor off and Power Poles can be beneficial in water depths much deeper than their anchoring length. Learn how to fully utilize the technology.

If you fish and do not let conditions decide when you fish, then it's worth every penny.


A hydraulic plate is useful in rough water, it allows you to let the motor all the way down and you do not blow out nearly as much. The more you have your prop hooked up in rough water the easier it is to navigate and it's also a lot safer.

It's also useful getting on pad with a heavily loaded boat, raise up the plate and your boat will plane out a lot quicker. Also idling through stump fields, idling in heavy vegetation and also getting on pad in shallower water.

Wouldn’t leave Home without it!

Call Steve at HydroDynamics! Excellent product!

Its not JUST for speed. My 10" HydroDynamics manual plate helps my Tr20 turn better at slow speeds, get on pad quicker ,& DEFINATELY improves top speed & reduce chine walking to hardly any at all.
The Hysraulic plate on my Champion 201 is also useful for the same ,plus, on the fly adjustment for conditions at hand.

[quote=Karl Dietz]Wouldn’t leave Home without it!

especially in shallow water. With the new motor pro xs i have you have to be careful in shallow water

+1

Won't have a boat without one.

^^^This. I won't own a boat without a hydraulic. One of the best things you can buy. ***Make sure you have a water pressure gauge.

You'll be surprised at how much and often you use it, big difference with and without one.

I will be honest, I have had one on my last 4 boats, I usually set it and forget it, either I don't fish enough to have a use for it or I just do not know how to use it.

I have one on my existing boat. I find it to be more of a toy than all that useful.

The new boat is on order with a manual plate.

I believe certain brand boats need them more than others. Once you start breaking 75mph they are very helpful. I find myself running a larger prop year round.

I had 2 boats with them. My current boat does not. I used it all the ways stated above. But reality it was not worth 1k to me. And I believe a manual plate to be lighter and faster when setup right.

Exactly! Had one on the first bought I owned, then didn't have one on the last bought. Now I have one on my new boat, and I would never get another boat without one. Adjusting on the fly is the main reason I like it. If you have a performance hull, you can use the jack plate to regulate the chine walk, and making the adjustments are obviously very easy. Not to mention, lowering the motor in rough water makes driving in any condition much more enjoyable.

Wrong! If you have the need to travel any distance to speak of in shallow or obstructed water, a boat with a hydraulic plate definitely has an advantage. With engine tilt/trim used as a draft adjustment, the engine is oriented far from vertical in the water. The more throttle that is applied to travel over distance, the more the stern squats down INTO the water. The faster you want to go, the more your stern pulls down into the water - not what you'd want.

With my hydraulic jackplate, I leave the motor angle nearly vertical to the water, but adjust the jackplate to it's max height. This reduces draft, but avoids the above squatting issue when the throttle is advanced. In this configuration, I can use more throttle to move faster with less water disturbance, and keep draft to a minimum by avoiding the stern squat problem.

I will never buy another boat without one, period.

Think its one of those thing you would rather have and not need it than to not have it and need it. I see a use for many variations of a hydraulic jack plate but have been in many boats without them

I have one for the first time on my Skeeter and I love this thing. In addition to what has already been mentioned, I can dial in my jackplate on the fly. This is extremely helpful since I'm running my 3rd prop and I dont have to spend a day dialing in my jackplate height for each new prop I put on the boat, and you know what a nightmare that can be. (Put boat in water, run it, put it back on trailer, adjust plate, drop it back in, take back out, adjust plate, repeat...)

Always great to be able to adjust the plate based on your load to help with holeshot or roughwater. It just makes your boat much more efficient and enjoyable to run.

I've run them on my bay boats before and there is no way I would run a bay boat with out one.

A hydraulic jack plate is worth every penny if you know how to use it.

Shawn nailed it. A jack plate is an incredible tool for a boat. A hydraulic jack plate is an even better tool. I will never own a boat without a hydraulic jack plate. Plain and simple.